Daichi: ...It really says a lot that I can't find anything better to do than this, doesn't it?

Verity: We don't own anything here.

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It was strange, how an item as small as a Tag could feel so heavy.

Ib clutched the odd necklace in her fingers, glancing out at the vague shape of Server Continent in the distance. It had been a long week, with nothing to do but sit on the back of a Digimon known as Whamon, but she'd appreciated the peace and quiet. Even if it forced her to think a bit more than she would have enjoyed.

Not that she was the only one with difficulties. Matt and T.K. were having nightmares, Izzy was spending more time trying to get his computer to work than anything else, and Tai had gotten relaxed enough about being in this world to start worrying more about his sister at home.

Mimi's only worry seemed to be what the sea spray would do to her hair. What Ib wouldn't give to be that carefree…

Joe, meanwhile, was on permanent lunch duty because he was the only one who could convince Gomamon to stay away from the fishing lines. Not that any of them were particularly good at making sushi, but it was something.

And it was all about to end either way, with their arrival on Server. Hopefully, the mainland would have a way home. Otherwise, Ib didn't see the point in having left File to begin with.

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T.K. had been excited to finally arrive on Server. A new continent meant more new Digimon to meet, and that was sort of scary, but he was sure they'd make lots of new friends.

Everything was just a bit strange, though. They'd been told there would be a Koromon village when they arrived, but a type of Digimon called Pagumon were living there instead.

They were perfectly nice, though. Actually, they sort of reminded T.K. of rabbits, though Ib got really quiet when he made the comparison. It probably didn't matter.

Actually, what he was most happy about was the fact that Poyomon was finally Tokomon again. Soon, Patamon would be fluttering along next to him, just as he was meant to be. So he didn't really worry about anything, instead falling asleep happily with his partner cuddled up to his chest.

The good feeling didn't last.

Late in the night, T.K. was woken up by something nudging at his arms. "Uh! Why do humans have to be so heavy?" He heard a Pagumon complain.

"Shhh! You'll wake them up!"

"Don't you shush me, I'll-" T.K. decided to sit up, so he could ask the little In-Training Digimon what was wrong. "He's getting up!"

"Is something wrong?" He wasn't sure why they were up there, but there had to be a problem, right?

"That, well…" None of the little Digimon seemed to know what to say. Until one of them, looking more nervous than the others, belted out, "We're here to kidnap your Digimon!"

"Don't just say that!"

"But it worked with the Koromon!"

"...This explains a lot, really." T.K. turned in surprise, to see Ib standing at the door, her partner floating over her shoulder. Had she left earlier? "Lalamon? Can you handle this?"

"Of course I can!" Lalamon immediately started humming a soft tune. It sounded almost familiar to T.K., but he just couldn't place it.

And before he could even start trying to figure it out, he had already dropped back off to sleep.

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Ib removed her hands from her ears with a sigh. "Okay, first, you should have told me you could do that weeks ago. Second, now what do we do with all these Pagumon?"

It was a very good question. Not only were there the Pagumon Lalamon had put to sleep, but the rest of the Digimon in the village were still there, and Ib didn't have any earplugs.

"Honestly, I just figured it out now," Her partner admitted. Okay, good, so she hadn't been losing out on more sleep than necessary. "As for the Pagumon… not sure! Maybe the others know?"

"Best chance we've got…" Joe. Joe would know what to do.

Of course, she wasn't quite sure how to go about waking up her friend without being rude about it. So she settled for shaking him, because she didn't think she had the time to figure it out. "Joe. Hey, Joe. Get up."

"Ib, it's the middle of the night."

"Yeah, but Lalamon and I just stopped the most incompetent kidnapping on the face of the planet, and we're sort of at a loss as to what to do next."

"...Okay, I might need a bit of an explanation for this one."

"What's there to say? I got up, took a walk… came back to the Pagumon outright declaring their desire to kidnap Tokomon. And that they also took the Koromon. Help."

"That's really not any more clear!" Behind Ib, one of the Pagumon stirred. She kicked them before they could wake up any of the others.

"Hey, that's not fair!"

"You tried kidnapping a little kid's Digimon. That's not very fair, either."

"You do seem to be going a bit overboard…" Joe ventured.

"Sorry. It's just… they remind me of a doll I saw once, in- well, you know." Like the situation itself hadn't been familiar enough. "So, do you know how to interrogate prisoners?"

"...Let's wake up Mimi." Ib wasn't sure why her friend made that suggestion, but so long as it made sense to him, she didn't see why not.

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It turned out that, when someone was little more than a bouncing head, it was rather difficult to successfully tie them up. Not that anyone aside from Ib was properly trying.

"Don't you feel a bit bad about this?" An unfamiliar voice asked. "They're only In-Training, they probably don't know any better."

"That doesn't excuse them." Not when a little girl could tear away a man's life- his existence, even- while singing happily like she was playing a game. Not when another girl, newly nine, could steal a dead man's lighter and burn the first girl to death without a second thought. Children could be cruel, and Ib herself felt she served as a good example of that.

The speaker, a light purple rabbitlike figure with red eyes, blinked. "I… wasn't expecting an actual response."

"You probably shouldn't expect anything from me, really," She said, lashing another Pagumon to a pole. The totem of gagged, tied-up Digimon sullenly glared at her.

Whatever. It wasn't like their opinions mattered to her.

"Um… Ib?" Lalamon fluttered over her way with a frown. "Who are you talking to?"

She glanced at the rabbit Digimon, who shrugged. "Nobody… can really tell I exist, a lot of the time. Honestly, you're the first person who ever has."

Well. If she was hallucinating, at least this time her delusion was being mildly helpful about it. She still didn't fully understand what parts of the Gallery had been real and what hadn't, even if she'd managed to create a basic outline.

Not that however real something was or not had any sort of effect on how dangerous it could be.

"Oh, no one in particular," She said instead. No reason to have her partner worrying about her any more than necessary. "Just… a few things I needed to get out." If this new Digimon wasn't real, that was probably as good an explanation for him as any.

"I have a name, you know…" The probably-hallucinated Digimon muttered. "It's Gazimon. Also, there's an Etemon that's probably going to come this way and attack you, so…"

Ib shrugged it all off. Whatever it was, it probably wasn't actually a problem.

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It was. It was definitely a problem.

The DigiDestined fled to a nearby waterfall, and they found a Crest for Tai. And, for most of them, that was the extent of the day's events.

Ib, meanwhile, had to deal with a Digimon whose very existence was questionable, and who had evil twins serving the local evil overlord.

What she wouldn't give for a normal life, sometimes.

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Verity: ...Did they have to be that incompetent?

Daichi: They're Digimon that, according to level, are the equivalent of toddlers that go around pulling other kids' hair. Not exactly good henchman material.